Rising Darkness, Raising Light
by Renochi
Summary: Leah was only nineteen when Yami took her loved ones from her by slaughtering the Oina Tribe. Now the only Oina left, she must find the extent of her powers, and get her revenge on Yami, with the help of allys met along the way. -HAITUS-
1. Part 1

Part One

Leah walked calmly down the white pathway. The snow crunched softly underneath her sandals as she made her way away from the Oina village. She wore a pink kimono kind of shirt, some long black pants and black sandals. Everyone had always considered her dress a little strange, considering the cold climate they all lived in. But she'd always insisted she couldn't feel the cold, and just wore what she felt like. Her eyes were a very light green-grey colour, almost white, with tinges of blue and brown in them. The Oina mask, a golden cat with silver eyes, had a kind of viel running off the back of it, hiding her hair, and going down her back and stopping about halfway down. There was an actual reason behind this, and only the Oina tribe knew of it.

Actually, this nineteen year old had quite a lot of secrets and strange qualities. First of all, as an Oina, she had never actually been able to access her lupine form. There were, however, golden wolf ears sprouting out of her head, and a canine's gold tail on her too. She always found this quite annoying, but was close enough to every other Oina, so nobody teased her about it.

She had just gone back to the village for some of her treasured items. That, and to check for any survivors. The search had come down to nil, but Leah had been able to get some small things of hers to keep with her. There wasn't anything she could actually do in the village now, anyway, with nobody around. So she'd decided to leave and go travelling, and try to forget about this day. No one had to know about the events of it.

Blinking away from her thoughts, she noticed a small flicker of colour at the edge of her vision. Turning to see what it was, she noticed a small ice-blue butterfly floating around, carefree. Deciding it was quite pretty, but also unimportant, she continued walking. A cold wind blew then, but still she ignored it, guessing it was just one of the random gales that occurred sometimes.

All of a sudden, she was on the floor. '_What the-?'_ She pushed herself up slightly.

"Well, that was hardly fair. I wasn't ready, you jerks," Leah grumbled loudly, then stood and turned to face the 'jerks'. Three green imps were standing about ten paces away, mocking her in their ape-like way. Leah blinked at them, and bared long, sharp teeth at them, then crouched a little lower, ready to rush at them. Though she was human, she had the habit of doing things the way a canine would.

"Look, guys. The girly's threatening us! What a joke!" One of the imps laughed to his companions. "I don't know why The Master would seek to kill all the wolf people, then leave one of 'em. Maybe it can't turn into a mutt, but it should die all the same!"

'_Mutt?' _That was quite enough. Leah sprang herself at the giggling demons, knocking one with her elbow with such force, it collapsed, unprepared for the attack, and disappeared. The other two, stunned by the sudden action, just stared. One of them got kicked by Leah, but still remained in the battle. Both demons leapt at the girl, but she just ducked and moved swiftly out of their way, leaving both imps to knock their heads together. Leah grinned mischievously, then ran toward a nearby wall, ready to test out a new technique shed thought of. Making sure the imps had followed and were close enough for the move to work, she sprang against the wall, then pushed off, spinning, into the two remaining demons. It knocked them away and they then disappeared like the previous one had.

Leah stood and dusted some snow off of her, then walked back to the things she'd left when the imps had challenged her. She picked up two small paintings of her parents, who had both been killed alongside the tribe earlier that day. They had told Leah to run for her life, which she did, not wanting to disobey their last requests. She had told them she loved them, they returning the statement, then she had fled from the demons wrecking the Oina village. But those thoughts weren't for now. Right now she had to get moving. Leah grabbed the second and final item she had returned for, a golden watch that the tribe leader, Samickle had given to her. They had always been good acquaintances, and he'd given her a very nice gift, seeing as shed always fretted over time. She gave a small smile in memory of those lost, then looked up and continued on her way. Where she would go, she did not yet know.

Leah flopped down against a tree. Shutting her eyes, she yawned, baring her teeth in the process. Closing her jaws quickly, she slid a hand over a tree root jutting from the ground. Keeping her eyes closed, she decided to see how much she could sense around her. She could sense the aura of the tree she was against, and many more around her. Leafless, gnarled bark, the trees were oblivious to time itself. They were all know, wise beings, frustrated at the fact that they could not speak out and share their knowledge. Pushing the trees out of her mind, she moved on to the ground, then to the flowing water around her islet, and the many more that the old trees were seated upon. She sensed a great power nearby, through the tunnel behind the powerful waterfall. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a wall blocking her path to discover what the immense force was. Sighing, she opened her eyes again. She couldn't stretch her senses through walls yet, she'd have to work on that.

Leah felt a panicked aura nearby, and stood up to see what was happening. Using her 'third eye' to find out what it was that was so stressed, she discovered a small forest boy running through the entrance of a tunnel. The tunnel looked rather old, it probably led to some ruins or something. It seemed the child was running from something. Or it did seem like it, until he picked up a long stick, then acted like he was fishing. Leah opened her eyes and tilted her head. He was still panicked, but why was he fishing now? And without anything tied to the fishing rod, too! Even she knew _that _wouldn't catch anything. The boy seemed to be muttering something frantically about some "Ume", and how he'd left him behind. '_Ah well, nothing to do with me,' _Leah thought to herself. Turning, she decided to walk back to her tree to catch up on some sleep. She was planning to, but unfortunately for her, she couldn't carry out that plan.

She glanced down. Did her foot get caught on some root or something? Leah stiffened. The ground was grey, the air thick with evil. She looked over at the once crystal clear, deep blue water. Now it was slowly turning into a poisonous-looking purple, with tinges of black and red every now and then. _'So, this must be a curse zone. Better leave before something worse happens...' _

She concentrated on getting free of her paralysis, and eventually won against it. Crouching, she sprang up, away from the main curse zone, and on to a ledge nearby. There was a cave on the ledge, connected to one of the walls, but that entrance was blocked. So she settled for just laying down behind a bush to catch up on her rest, hidden from sight from any attackers. Not likely that there would actually be anyone around now, though. With that curse zone there, there wasn't going to be any real events happening. Too tired to think now, she shut her eyes and drifted into a light sleep.


	2. Part 2

Part Two

_The wheel was spinning around Leah really fast. Too fast! Leah felt like she couldn't breathe, it was sucking all oxygen away from her... _

_All of a sudden, she was on the floor, snow covering her face. She lay there for a few seconds, recovering her breath. Another mistake of hers. There was a weight on her back, and try as she might, it got no lighter. She couldn't get up. If this weakness kept up, she wouldn't be able to make it away alive. Adrenaline surging through her, she growled with the effort of getting this heavy thing off of her back._

_Leah pushed up, sending the Igloo Turtle hurtling off of her. She stood and turned to face it, ready to spring at it. Two more Igloo Turtles joined the first, with an Ice Wheel joining the Wind Wheel. Four green imps then joined the fray. The demons were ready to gang up on her, when her mother, father and Samickle all leapt into the circle of monsters, surrounding themselves around Leah. "What are you doing? You'll all get hurt! Stay away, this is my fight!" she yelled at them, worried for their safety._

"_Just keeping you alive is more than enough reason to get you away from here, Leah!" Samickle growled over at her._

_Leah's father launched himself at a cluster of the demons, clearing a path for her. "Leah, go with your mother, she'll get you out of the village and far enough from this carnage. Just remember, I'll always love you no matter what!"_

_Leah's mother tugged on her shirt then told her to follow quickly. Leah complied, then shot after her mother as she ran out of the village. She stole a last glance backwards to see her father and Samickle bravely facing down impossible odds that were ever increasing. Leah looked forwards and watched her mother as she ran ahead, then stopped just outside the village._

"_I can't guide you any more, Leah. This is a turning point in your life, now you should take advantage of it before anything happens to sabotage it. Go Leah, and remember that we always have, and always shall love you, no matter what happens! Stay safe!"_

_Leah opened her mouth to reply to her mother, but she was already running back to the village to help the others. She stared at her mother's retreating form, then looked down, her vision blurring. They wouldn't make it against the demons. This was the last time she'd see them, she knew it. "I'll miss you..."she mumbled to herself, then ran away from the wrecked village. That was when she heard the screams..._

"Gah!"

Leah shot up, terrified of the nightmare. It had happened only this morning, surely it was too early to have nightmares about it! Leah sighed quickly, then looked around. Nothing different to the scene. Getting up, she looked over at the tunnel she'd seen earlier. It was open. She tilted her head. That wall there didn't look breakable earlier. How strange. She stepped over to the ledge's edge, and looked around. The cursed zone was disappearing. What was _happening? _

Then, from behind the waterfall, a pure white wolf leapt out onto a small, treeless islet. The wolf seemed to have crimson markings on it, and a dark green kind of plate floating above its back, with flames coming off of it. Then she looked away from the wolf. Well, the trees were back. She heard a small high pitched voice then, coming from the wolf's direction. She looked back at it to find a tiny green light bouncing on its head. The voice seemed to be coming from the light. '_That must be a poncle,'_ Leah thought.

All of a sudden, a calming tune began to play, probably coming from a flute or some instrument like it. She cast her senses out for its source, to find a strange man perched on a tree branch, holding the flute. He said a few things, and introduced himself as Waka, the 'God's gift to man'. Leah rolled her eyes. This Waka person seemed pretty full of himself. He then leapt down from the branch. He wore a pink top, similar to hers, but his had two large fluffy buttons attached to it. He had purple pants on, and sandals with really long, stilt-like teeth, one on each shoe. On his head was a kind of grey-blue bird helmet, with a long light pink veil attached to it.

Leah watched as he landed lightly atop the surface of the water, spreading a few sparkles around. _'First it seems he dresses weird, now he can stand on water. Huh.' _she thought to herself. He spoke to the wolf and poncle, calling the canine 'Amaterasu', and then held his flute up in both hands, shrinking its length then drawing a glowing green blade from it. Leah stared at the weapon, which not so long ago was a harmless musical instrument.

She watched as Waka and Amaterasu engaged in battle, then grew a little bored and focused on other things. She let her mind wander for a while, then was brought back to reality as a wind blew. She glanced back down at the group. Waka was now discussing Orochi, the evil eight-headed serpent, and how he was meant to guard it. Apparently, someone had waited until Waka wasn't guarding the Moon Cave, and then released Orochi from a sword called Tsukoyomi.

Waka then turned around, only to find that Amaterasu had fallen asleep. This caused him to nearly fall over from surprise, as they were _meant _to be speaking about something important. Leah had to laugh at that, Waka's expression seemed quite funny. The poncle, who had said his name was Issun, began bouncing on the sleeping wolf's head, causing her to grumble and tuck herself into a tighter ball than before. Issun spoke to Waka some more, then Waka said something about a prophecy. It had something to do with logs. Waka then supposedly said goodbye in some weird language, then launched away from the water, leaving Issun with the sleeping Amaterasu.

Leah let her gaze follow the prophet as he seemed to fly away from the other two. Well, you didn't see anything like this every day. He seemed to not be too different from Leah herself, leaping high distances, seeing into the future, and they even had similar headwear. Leah found herself sitting on the ledge, so she got up a leapt after Waka. He seemed interesting enough, and she had nothing better to do anyways.

She followed Waka silently until he came to another cursed zone, this one in Taka Pass, so a sign had said. Waka simply walked around the evil areas, and came up to another wall, with a crack in it and light protruding from the crack. He then teleported behind the wall, leaving Leah confused. "Great, what now?" she muttered, then had a thought. She and Waka had some common things between them, right? Maybe she could teleport too! Leah closed her eyes, then focused her senses on the wall. Instead of going through it, she pushed her senses onward, and through the crack in the wall. Well, that worked! She then went through a tunnel, and found a clearing with glowing water in it, and some wooden structure leading upwards to a ledge. Waka was standing on that ledge, so Leah, not wanting him to know of her presence, simply searched out an area nearby to him. Once she found what she'd been looking for, she concentrated on the hiding spot, imagining herself in that place.

A fern brushed against her hand. She was in a crouching position. Opening her eyes, she was greeted by a different scene to the one from before. She looked around. She really was in the cave from earlier... She had managed to teleport! She smiled to herself, having learned how to do something new, and then looked around for Waka. He was staring downwards at something on the ground, below the ledge. Leah cast her senses for whatever he was looking for, and found that it was none other than Amaterasu and Issun.

Waka leapt off the ledge, then spoke to the duo. Leah rose from her hiding place, and went over to the edge of the ledge to watch the three of them again. Waka challenged Amaterasu once again. The battle was lost to him a second time. He seemed pretty worn out by the time the fight had ended, then had an energy burst, springing to his usual position, the tiredness forgotten. He had another prophecy for them, then bid them 'adieu', leaping up onto the ledge again. At this point, Leah had let her senses wander around. Her short attention span really didn't help at time like this! She jumped as a voice sounded out.

"Are you alright?"

Leah blinked. "Er, yes. I am. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you seemed to be staring blankly at a wall."

Leah shrugged. "Don't worry about it."

There was a short silence. Leah looked back to see that Waka was staring at her, hands behind his back, as if waiting for her to say something. She tilted her head at him.

Waka gave a slight smile. "Since you seem confused, I'll start. Bonjour, my name is Waka."

Leah raised her shoulders. "Oh. Well, my name's Leah..."

Waka then smirked. "If you don't mind me asking, why were you following me, Leah?"

The girl blinked in surprise. He'd noticed her? "Well, uh... I had nothing better to do, so..."

Waka opened his mouth to say something, but Leah sensed a sudden change in the atmosphere outside. No longer thick with evil auras, but clear and healthy. She suddenly whirled around and leapt down from the ledge that she and the prophet were standing on, and ran down the tunnel. Waka had thought she'd been spooked or something, with the way she'd stiffened and run off. He decided to follow her, just in case.


	3. Part 3

Leah gazed at the newly cured Taka Pass. There were now bamboo forests with various animals taking residence in them. The grass was green and pure again, the sun shining unto the field and helping out with the happy atmosphere. Leah flicked an ear, hidden uncomfortably underneath her veil, and gazed at the awe-inspiring scene. A butterfly fluttered close to her face. Strange, it seemed like the one she'd seen this morning while she was still in Kamui. The ice-blue butterfly fluttered around Leah for a bit, until she held out her hand, onto which it landed gracefully, wings slowly fluttering in the way a butterfly's wings do when resting.

The Oina watched the blue insect as it fluttered away. She turned to see Waka standing behind her. He was a little confused, but was trying not to show it. Leah turned again so that her back faced Waka.

"It's hard to believe..." she started. "It's hard to believe that evil lurks in such beauty." The prophet stepped closer to Leah. "It shan't remain this way for long," Waka simply stated. Leah narrowed her eyes. How would _he _know? After what had happened to her today, it was hard to believe any good would come of anything. She closed her eyes and sighed. "I honestly don't believe that." She mumbled. Opening her eyes, she looked into the sky, and stiffened. Her vision went black. A small glowing light appeared, it's colour a golden hue. The light got larger, until the golden, undetailed form of a wolf appeared. Then a voice sounded out, "The Chosen One shall defeat the rising Darkness. The wolves will raise the Light." The voice then faded, and Leah's vision on the blue sky was back. She jumped as a different voice spoke. "Leah? Are you going to answer?"

Leah turned quickly. "Huh? What? Sorry, did you say something?" Waka narrowed his eyes, which were full of suspicion. "Yes, I did. I asked what was wrong, because you seemed quite spooked when you looked at the sky."

"Oh. Well... I... I have to go now. I'll see you around, prophet."

Waka blinked in surprise. "Wait, prophet? How did you...?"

Leah only gave him a sharp-toothed smirk. She then turned and waved a hand dramatically, then said 'Ryoshima Coast', then was gone in a flash of gold. Waka could only ask himself what had just happened.

-x-

Leah gazed out at the ocean. Its dark blue hue was reflecting the orange one from the setting sun, and the sky's rosy-pink colour. A few sakura blossom petals fluttered past her, riding the fresh breeze. A curious chocolate brown dog trotted up to her, seeing her as a fellow canine, yet also something different altogether. The dog sniffed around nearby to Leah, then gazed at her with sparkling eyes. It was probably hungry. It confirmed this when it barked, "Hello. I am hungry. Can you give me food?"

Being part canine, she could understand most creatures. Leah gave a small grin, then stirred her tail in the dirt. "Sorry, friend. I have no food," Leah barked. The dog just wagged its tail, barked a 'thanks anyway,' then left. Leah lowered her ears. "Speaking of food, I suppose I need some." She stood up, then heard a semi-familiar voice.

"Good choice for me to bring some, then."

Leah turned to face Waka. "I'm capable of getting my own, some way or another. But thanks anyways." She took the bag from the prophet, and noticed it had a few peach dumplings in it. Four, to be exact. Waka watched as the Oina set the bag down next to the tree she was previously sitting against. She flicked an ear. "So, why did you come here? Looking for me?" Waka just turned his gaze to the sunset across the sea.

"Just wanting to admire the sunset."

"No, the real reason."

Waka put his arms behind his back. "You're special, Leah. I'm sure you've noticed by now that you're different from others."

"Yes, but what's your point?"

"How would you like to be my apprentice, Leah?"

There was a silence, then: "Why offer me? I mean, I'm just some person that you don't know, anyway."

"You have certain abilities, and you need help in order to hone them. So I'm offering to teach you."

Leah switched her gaze to the floor, and put her hand, which was still inside of the long sleeve of her kimono-like shirt, to her mouth, as if pondering something. She stayed in this position for a while, and then answered. "Alright. I'll be your apprentice, student, whatever it was." Waka blinked at her in surprise. He hadn't expected her to agree to it so easily. Leah blinked too, and tilted her head. "What? Never mind. So, when do we start 'honing my abilities'?"

Waka straightened himself up. "Tomorrow morning. Now would you like me to take you to your quarters, or would you rather stalk me again?" he asked sarcastically.

Leah rolled her eyes. "I'll go with the first option... Master Waka." Waka smiled slightly, then turned and began the trip back to Sei-An City. "Are we seriously going to _walk_? That takes too long, can't we go faster?" A voice piped up from behind him. Waka smirked to himself. "Alright then, Leah. See if you can keep up with me!"

And then he was gone in a blur. Leah sweat dropped. Okay, this did seem faster. She looked around for him, and spotted him running toward a ramp, which led to gates going into the city, she guessed. Leah crouched and sprang after her new teacher. Sure, he was fast, but she was pretty fast too. In a matter of seconds, she had caught up with him. She turned her head to look at him, still running. Waka kept his gaze in front of him. "Don't act overconfident, Leah."

All of a sudden, he stopped. Leah blinked, then turned to look in front of her while she tried to skid to a halt, too. No good, her skid didn't end fast enough, and in the end she had hit into a pillar just outside of the city gates. Leah had turned before the impact, hitting her shoulder and side of her head against the pillar. She leaned against it a little while, feeling dizzy, then pushed away from the pillar. "That was a great stop, Leah." Waka chuckled as Leah glared at him. "What, did you think I was graceful the whole time? Not my best, I can assure you," she grumbled, slightly embarrassed, but not letting it get to her too much. In a moment, she was back to her regular posture, and walked towards the gates leading to Sei-An city. "This way, right?" she asked. Waka didn't reply, but just walked past her towards the city, an air of amusement around him, and a faint glimmer in his blue eyes that confirmed he was still laughing at Leah in his mind. Leah shook her head, irritated, and continued to follow her Master.

-x-

"So, where is it?" Leah asked. Waka simply looked up, then all of a sudden, a spout of water appeared in the middle of the pond in front of them. Leah gazed at it. What kind of trickery was this? Waka looked down at her. "You won't be able to get up there unless you jump, and I doubt you can get that high. You won't be able to stand on water yet, so I'll just have to take you up." Leah tilted her head. "What do you me-" she stopped mid sentence as the prophet picked her up and jumped onto the waiting water spout. Almost as soon as they got onto it, it began taking then upwards. Leah's eyes widened. She'd never been this high before. Her grip on Waka's shirt tightened. Although she went up high quite a lot, she was strangely afraid of heights. Her ears lowered and her tail swung limply. She closed her eyes. "W-why does this p-place have to be s-so high u-up?" she muttered to herself, trying not to stutter, but doing so anyway. "Sorry. I didn't know you would be scared." Waka taunted. "I-I am n-not! It's just that I've never been so high before...!" Leah snapped angrily, her stutter disappearing. She hated being called scared by anyone else. She was fine to admit she was scared in some cases, but if anyone else called her scared, she couldn't stand it. She broke free of his hold, and leapt the rest of the way up. She looked towards the large opening into the building. There was a guard standing outside of the entrance, holding something like a trident, dressed sort of like Waka, but with a golden mask that covered his eyes and a rather large, silly-looking hat.

Leah turned back to see Waka just arriving at the platform now, and watched him walk up to her. "What's with that guys weird hat?" she asked him. Waka seemed amused by her question, but put on an 'offended' kind of face. "It's part of the uniform. I designed them myself, thank you very much." Leah rolled her eyes. "Well, sorry, didn't mean to offend you so much," she stated sarcastically. Waka then carried on toward the large entrance to the building. He glanced to the guard on duty as he walked by. "Good evening Kamo." He nodded. "Good evening sir." Kamo greeted back. His glance turned momentarily to Leah as she walked by, she returning the glance, but then looking back in front of her and continuing on her way.

She had to admit, the lace looked _a lot _bigger inside than it did outside. There was a main room with some statues in it to the one side, some strange display on the other, with many moving symbols and pictures on it. If you went straight forward, there was a large desk. Nearby to the display of the symbols was a young man dressed in the same attire as the guard outside, except this guy had no mask on. Leah looked at him. He suddenly seemed extremely nervous with Waka around, like he was someone of extreme importance. Leah looked back at Waka in front of her as he turned to go down something that seemed like a corridor, with many doors on each side of the passageway, probably leading to bedrooms or something of the sort. (A/N: No, this place isn't really in the Tao Troopers HQ, just use yer imagination like I do :D)

The duo walked down the long hallway for a while, until they reached one of the last doors there. "This shall be your room, Leah." Waka opened the door for her and she stepped through. "Not very fancy, but it shall make do for you, non? Now, if you ever need me, my room is right at the end of the hallway, so you won't forget where it is. I suggest you get some rest now, we'll be starting your training early tomorrow morning," Waka concluded, and with that, he shut the door slowly.

Leah blinked. This certainly was an... interesting day. She yawned, then remembered something. She was still hungry. She brought the bag of peach dumplings out from her pocket, though she honestly did not remember actually putting them there in the first place. She brought one out from the bag, and examined it. It seemed quite small, actually. She shrugged and stuck it in her mouth. After eating it, she strangely felt quite full. Not bothering to ponder at this, she dropped the bag on a side table near her bed, slipped her black sandals off and got into bed. She then took off her mask and veil, and also left those on the side table, revealing her grey eyes, tinged with blue, green, brown, and amber in random areas in the iris, and also uncovering her long, golden hair. She then closed her eyes and drifted into a deep sleep, the first peace she'd had in what had seemed like forever.


	4. Part 4

Part Four

"Ah!"

Leah shot up quickly, opening her eyes in shock. She had _that nightmare_ again. She shut her eyes tightly and shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She lay her head on her pillow again, and stared at the ceiling, her mind churning. What if there actually were survivors, and she'd just left them there? Leah gasped. What about her brother, and Lika and Kai? She remembered that little Lika had gone into the Spirit Gate again, and since Kai knew her way around Yoshpet Forest, she had gone looking for her sister. Leah's younger brother, Blake, had gone with Kai, offering to protect her, since he was a warrior. She'd agreed, and they then went to find the Spirit Gate, and hopefully Lika too.

Leah sighed, then slowly pushed herself out of bed. After fitting on her mask, her gaze drifted to the veil. Should she wear it here? She shrugged, and fastened it to the back of her mask so that it fell over and covered her hair. She put her sandals on then headed for the door. She opened it slowly after looking at her watch to see that it was only four in the morning, so that she didn't wake anyone if the door made a noise. She slipped through, and walked down the hallway, humming a tune quietly as she went.

At last, she got to the end of the hall, then rounded the corner to get outside of the building. She noticed that the young man from yesterday was at his post again. (A/N: It's Abe, if you didn't guess.) Had he stayed there all night, or gone to bed and come back? Leah shrugged, it wasn't all that important to her. As she exited the building, she saw that... what was his name again? Kamo, that was it. Kamo was at his post like yesterday, too. Though he looked like he was literally falling asleep where he stood, so Leah just walked past him. He didn't acknowledge her, so she just went without saying anything to him either.

She walked over to the railing of the floating deck, still humming, tail swishing behind her. She looked down over the city, then jerked back. '_A little too high up...'_she thought to herself, eyes widened. She shook her head, then turned as she felt a familiar presence nearby. "Good morning, Leah~" A rather cheerful Waka greeted her. Leah blinked at him, then smiled politely. "Uh, hi there Waka," she responded, then looked around. "Remind me again why this place is so high up?" she asked rhetorically, failing to find much else to say. Waka's smile faded a little. "Why, does it bother you? Surely you're used to being high up?" Leah shrugged at his question. "I dunno. Can we go down now? It's a little... windy up here."

Just as she'd said that, a strong gust had picked up, forcing her veil off of the mask. It began to rise away on the wind, but Leah reached out over the railing quick enough to grab it. "Pesky wind," she muttered. Turning back to Waka, she found him staring at her in disbelief. Leah tilted her head. "What? What are you staring at?" She followed his gaze. He seemed to be looking at her hair. What was he doing that for? Waka blinked. "You're hair is quite... different," he noted, and stopped staring. Leah lifted a brow. "So it's different, what is that meant to mean?" Waka looked away. "Oh, nothing."

Leah had actually always wondered why her hair was a different colour to anyone else that she had ever met. Hers was a golden colour, and nobody else had that. Waka looked like he knew something about it. Meeting his gaze, she delved into his mind. Mostly everything was blocked from her view, but she was only looking for what he was currently thinking about. She saw a vision of the moon. '_Wait, the moon? How is that meant to help?' _She then saw a race of people that inhabited the moon, and found herself thinking of the word 'Moon Tribe'. Most people had golden hair too, but a few had black, and even brown hair colours.

"Leah, please don't do that."

Leah was brought back to reality. "Huh? Do what?"

Waka narrowed his eyes. "Look into my mind."

"Y-you noticed that? Nobody else ever has..." Leah said, and went into her 'I'm thinking' position. Waka sighed. "Thoughts are private, Leah. I recommend you don't do that to anyone unless you absolutely have to. You're also far too vulnerable when you do it, so just be careful."

Leah nodded, then noticed her veil still wasn't on, and her gaze flitted down to it. "You don't need it on if you don't want it on." Leah blinked at it, deciding whether to wear it or not, and the weight of her decision shifted to 'not'. Shrugging, she folded it and put it into one of her pockets, in case she needed it later on. "Are we going to start training yet? I'm bored," she noted, the looked back up at the Tao Master. Waka's grin returned and he walked over to the edge of the railing again, then stopped and turned back to Leah, who had followed him. He handed her something that Leah hadn't actually noticed he was holding before. It looked like a grey tablet with blue markings and lines on it. "This is a Water Tablet. It allows you to walk on water as if it were land." Leah reached out and took it from him, then examined it once more, and put it into her pocket that held the veil. _'That must be how he was walking on the water earlier,' _Leah noted, and they both stepped onto the strange water spout that had appeared.

-x-

_After training, they returned to the city. Leah had said she wanted to explore the city, and so Waka had left her to it. He had also given her some money to spend if she wanted to._

People were staring. It felt very uncomfortable, so Leah glared back at them for doing it. This only cause them to either look away, glare back, or just keep staring. After a while, Leah gave up completely on doing this, there were just too many people staring at her. It was probably her hair that caused them to watch her so intently. Leah sighed loudly and shook her head. Some people just wouldn't accept her the way she was.

A sharp whistling noise caught her sensitive ears, and she dodged out of the way of the fast moving stone, and carried on walking. Another stone flew her way, and she moved out of the way again before grabbing the rock in her hand. She turned sharply, and threw the stone at the feet of its owner. Glaring at the small boy, she put a hand to her hip. "Do you mind? I'm just trying to walk here! Go throw stones at something else that isn't me!" she growled, her fox mask (A/N: I know - I said it was a cat earlier. oAo) making her look more menacing, and the boy stared at her in shock, then looked down at the stone she'd thrown. It seemed he was quite impressed that her aim and ability to dodge his stones was really good. And she was a girl, too! He had to work on his skills, if he were to remain the best stone-thrower in the city! The boy quickly turned and ran off, with Leah's angry eyes burning into his back.

-x-

Leah walked back into the Tao Troopers floating headquarters, still a little angry at how the people of Sei-An had treated her. Just as she'd gone to go into the hallway, Waka had gone around the corner, and they nearly collided with each other. Leah jumped at his sudden appearance, but Waka just smiled at her. "Ah, Leah, you're back! How was it down in the city?" She narrowed her eyes, muttered something about it being horrible as a reply to him, and pushed past him into the hallway to get to her room. She opened her door, stepped in, and shut it behind her, then went to sit on her bed, and took her mask off, irritated. Sighing, when she heard the door click open, she wasn't all too surprised at Waka coming in to find out why she was in such a mood. Shutting the door behind him, he stood a little way away from her, about to ask a question, but Leah interrupted him.

"They wouldn't stop staring at me, and some little brat threw stones at me. That's what you wanted to know, right? Humph," she muttered, crossing her arms and looking downward at the floor, not bothering to put the mask back on, but not letting him see her face at the same time by keeping her back to him. Waka walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. Leah shivered at the contact, she wasn't used to others touching her. Waka noticed, but only said, "People will accept you sooner or later. Don't worry about it, mon ami."

Leah unfolded her arms. "Was that even a word? I've never heard it before."

Waka raised a brow. "Was what a word, Leah?"

"Mon ami." (A/N: "My friend.")

"Oui, il a été." (A/N: He said "Yes, it was." I used Google Translator. XD)

"_What?_"

Waka only grinned in amusement at his student's confusion at his speech. '_Well, he wants to speak in some language I don't understand, I'll just ignore him.'_

Leah sighed and shook her head. "You're not helping. Unless you can do something to make me not want to attack those people, just leave. I'm bored, anyway."

Waka grinned mischievously as he thought up an idea. Leah probably wouldn't like his plan much, but if all worked out well she might just feel a bit better. Plus, he himself was a little curious about what her face looked like...

"Why is your mask not on, might I ask?" Waka started. The Oina only stirred her fluffy tail.

"I can't be bothered with it at the moment. I don't feel like I deserve to wear it," she mumbled.

"Well if you can't be bothered with it right now..."

Then her mask was in Waka's hand. She gasped and pricked her ears, unprepared for that move he had just pulled. "I'm sure you wouldn't mind it if I had a look at it for a while!" he said as he finished his previous sentence. "Waka, give that back!" Leah growled. "I thought you said you didn't want it right now," he responded.

"I never said that! Now give it back to me! Don't make me do something I'll regret," she threatened. After a few seconds with no response, Leah almost literally slapped herself in the face. "Fine, you asked for it," Leah muttered, and held up a hand and made a fist. Three long claws slid out from her skin, seemingly growing from where her knuckles protruded (A/N: lol Wolverine.), and one smaller claw slid out in unison with the others. Leah closed her eyes and pointed the claws in the direction of her mask and all of a sudden a small sharp object flew towards Waka, narrowly missing his hand that held the mask. Waka looked a little shocked at this, and stared down at where his hand was almost hit. Leah lowered her hand and the claws slid back into her hand, disappearing from view. Before Waka could even think about reacting, Leah grabbed the mask from him and held it firmly. Waka looked over to see if he could see her face for a moment. When he did, though, he wasn't really looking at her face, but moreso her eyes - they had him unable to look away. Grey eyes blazed with irritation and satisfaction. "Please don't do that again," she asked of him.

Leah turned her face away from him and put the mask back onto her face, then let her ears droop. "I know you were just trying to help. I'm just still a little miserable after... recent events... I honestly don't want to hurt anyone, but if I'm angry enough something bad just may happen."

She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, propping her chin on them.

Oh fuuu-

That's all I got up to because the person I borrowed Okami from wanted his game back and then I lost interest...

Wahh, don't kill me! D:

I may or may not continue sometime, by the way~~

Buuuu~t for the moment, I'm into Soul Eater.

Yeah, we'll see how that works out. –Is helping xStarxWolfx with her harmonize series. GO LOOK AT IT. AND EVERY OTHER FIC SHE'S DONE. *Awesome~~*-

-End


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